Filling and weighing machine



Aug. 14, 1928. 1,680,487

W. L. TAYLOR l FILLNG AND WEIGHING MACHINE Filed Feb. '7, 1923 4Sheets-Sheet '1 o. 0 c l Y mp1s i 97 61/ 1262 7 Je y A, O 619 23K l". 72"lll I 30 f n f7 66 66 u ,-I-Ill e UH ,l I A.

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Aug. 14, 1928.

W. .L TAYLOR FILLING AND WEIGHING MACHINE Filed Feb.' v, 1923' 4sheets-sheet 5 Aug. 14, 1928.

w. 1 TAYLR FILLING AND WEIGHING MACHINE Filed Feb.'v,192:s 4sheets-sheet 4j Patented Aug. 14, 1928.

UNITEDl STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM L. TAYLOR, OF BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR T0 JOHNSON AUTO-MATIC SEALER CO., LTD., OF BATTLE CREEK, MICHIGAN, A PARTNERSHIP ASSO-CIATION LIMITED.

FILLING AND WEIGHING MACHINE.

Application led February 7, 1923. Serial No. 617,564.

The present invention is an improvement in filling and weighing machinesand the objects of the invention are to provide a simple and efiicientdevice of the character described which will rapidly and freely feedmaterials with decided non-free flowing characteristics, such as brownsugar, seeded raisins and the like. Heretofore most of these materialshave been packaged manually, owing to the diiiculties inherent inmachine handling such materials.

In the preferred embodiment of the inventive idea, there are employed,as a feeding means, a pair of smooth rollers arranged across thedischarge end of the feed hopper, with a scraper associated with eachroller and an agitator arranged above Athe rollers to prevent thematerial from caking in the hopper. 1If the material is to be fedintermittently, as in the case with the usual automatic scale, the feedrollers will be operated intermittentl and if both a rough load feedhopper an a drip stream feed f hopper are employed, the feed rollers inthe former are preferably operated faster than in the latter.

The invention will be better understood by reference to the accompanyingdrawings illustrating one expression of the inventive idea and whereinhFig. 1 is an end elevation of a scale equipped with'the resentinvention;

Fig. 2 is a rear e evation of the same;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing the drive for the feed rolls andthe agitators;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail;

Fig. 5 is an enlarged pers ective showing the clutches for effecting t eintermittent operation of the feed rolls; and

Fig. 6 is a detail.

Referring to the drawings, wherein like reference numerals indicate likearts, 10 is -the main receptacle into which t 1e material is fed from achute (such asa ta ered pipe ,larger at the bottom than at t e top, 'orotherwise) through opening 11 centrally disposed .in thetop ofthe same.The material falls on an imperforate surface 12 immediately under saidopening 11. This surface is preferably curved in cross-section asclearly shown in Figs. 14 and 2. The material is fed laterally alongthis surface into 15 and 16 of the main hopper is a shaft 17 on which ismounted a fplurality of feed agitators 18 preferably in the form ofstout bent wires. The wires on the right-hand side of the center of themain hopper feed the material into the feed-hopper 13 (as seen in'Fig.3) and those on the left into feed-hopper 14. These Wires are spaced andarranged so that they not only feed the material but also simultaneouslyagitate the same and break all lumps; and the' wires are arranged toclosely approach the walls so that the same are kept clean and freefromaccumulations. As illustrated, these wires pass through openings inthe shaft 17 and each is held in lplace by any suitable means as aset-screw 19. Any suitable number of wires 18 to effectively feed andagitate the material may be utilized, this dependin somewhat on theparticular kind of materlal being handled.

Heretofore the hoppers 13 and 14 have been provided 'with agitatorssimilar in their nature to the agitators 18 on shaft 17. According tothe present invention, however, such agitators are omitted from thehoppers 13 and 14 and the material is effectively fed out of thehoppersby feed rolls 20 and 21 mounted on shafts 22 and 23,lrespectively, supported in the walls of the 'hopper 13 and adjustabletoward-and from each other in any suitable manner. The shaft 23l isdriven from a shaft 24 suitably mounted in standards 25 supported on themachine frame, and this sha t 24 is driven from a shaft 26 through asprocket chain 27 Which passes around a sprocket 28 on shaft 24 and asprocket 29 on shaft 26. The shaft 23 is driven from shaft 24 through asprocket chain 23a passing around sproc ets on said shafts 23 and 24.The shaft 26 in turn is driven from shaft 30 through the medium of asprocket cha-in 31 passing around a sprocket wheel 32 on shaft 26 and 33on shaft 30; and shaft 30 is driven from shaft 34 through bevel gears 35and 36. A pulley 37 is mounted on shaft 34 and around this pulley passesa drive belt 38 that 1s driven fromthe motor 39 in any suitable manner.

In order that the feed rollers 2() and 21 may rotate downwardly todischarge the material into the cartons, a gear 40 is mounted on shaft23 and this gear meshes with a gear 41 carrying a sprocket 42 mounted ona stub shaft 41', around which sprocket 42 passes a sprocket chain 43that also passes around a sprocket wheel 44 on shaft 22. Hence, theserollers 20 and 21 rotate in opposite directions and downward# ly at thepoint where the material passes between their contiguous surfaces.

In order that the 1 aterial shall not cake in the hopper, an agitator isprovided above he feed rolls to loosen the same. This agitatorpreferably is operated once for cach package and acts simply to keep thematerial from caking or packing in a lump so that the rollers will feedit. As here shown, the agitator 45 is carried on the lower end of arod46 and is a piece ofl metal in the form of an elongated S. It will beunderstood that any other suitable form of agitator may be employed, andalso that the extent of Vmovement and speed of oper-` ation of thisagitator may be varied according to the nature of the material beingfed; but it has been found that such an agitator as described functionssatisfactorily with brown sugar, for example.

To the upper end of the rod 46 is secured one end of a rocking beam 47pivoted at 48 in a bearing 49 secured to the frame of the machine, andthe upper end of the rod 46 is guided in its movements in a casting 50located on the frame 51 that carries the bearing 49. The other end ofthe rocking beam 47 is connected to the upper end of a link 52, thelower end ofwhich is pivoted eccentrically at 53 to the gear 54 mountedon a short shaft 55. This gear 54 meshes with a pinion 56 mounted onshaft 24 and is driven thereby. The link 52 may be lengthened orshortened to modify the extent of reciprocation of the agitator 45 bymeansA of the pin and slot connections 57 and 58, it being understoodthat this link 52 is in two -parts secured together by saidvconnections.

The feed rollers 20 and 2l for the other' or drip-stream hopper aredriven from the same shaft 26 through similar connections as 'heretoforedescribed in connection with the feed rollers in the 4rough-load hopper'13, said connections including the sprocket chain 27', shaft 24 andsprocket chain 23h. Shaft 24 is, however, extended somewhat and carrieson its end a pulley 59 around which passes a belt 60 that also passesvaround a pulley 61 on shaft 62. Shaft 62 also carries a pinion 63 thatmeshes with a gear 64 on shaft 65, this shaft in turn carrying a pinion66 that meshes with a gear 67 on shaft 17 that carries the agitator-s18.

he shaft 17 is driven through these connections.'

As is well understood in devices of this general character, therough-load hopper is discharged at regular intervals and the dripstreamhopper is likewise, discharged at regular intervals, into portablecontainers or packages, any given package being rst A form by theconveyor and carried alongA way A to a top-sealing machine or otherinstrumentality (not shown). Means are accordingly provided foroperating the feed rollers 20 and 21 intermittently and also the feedrollers 20 21intermittently. As here shown, the means for operating thefeed rollers 2() and 21 intermittently consists of a pair of cams 70 aand 7Gb, the former being of Z-shape and carried by a disk 70, faston'shaft 71. Cam 70b is carried by a disk' 70d. Disk 70d is loose onshaft 71 but is secured to disk "('0e fast on said shaft by pin and slotconnections 70t which permit of adjustment of said cams toward eachother. Shaft 71 is driven from shaft 26 through sprocket chain 72 thatpasses sprocket Wheel 73 on shaft 26 and 74 on shaft 71. The cams 7()aand 70b engage a roller 7 5 carried on a clutch arm 76 pivoted at 77 inthe frame. of the machine. A clutch fork 7 6 on arm 76 operates a clutchof any suitable construction to control the power to the feedA rollers20 and 21 through the sprocket chainA 27.' As here shown, the sprocketwheel 29 is fast to the shell 30 of the clutch, but both the sprocketwheel and the shell are loose on shaft 26. The clutch arm 76 is operatedto move `a cone 78 to rock the spreader arm 79 to clamp together the twoparts of the clutch (of any suitable construction) and thus transmit'power through the chain 27 to the feed rollers -20 and 21. As will beobserved, the parts are moved'into clutching position under the actionof cam 7 0a and are moved out'of clutching position under the action ofcam 70h.

The intermittent operation of the fd rollers 20 and 21 is effectedthrough the chain 27 from a cam 85 loosely mounted on shaft 26, said camengaging a roller 86 around llo carried by one arm 87 of a bell-cranklever pivoted at 88, the other arm 89 of said lever being forked toengage one element 90 of a clutch mechanism, the other element 91 ofwhich has secured thereto a sprocket wheel 29 about which chain 27passes. The clutch element 90 is keyed to the shaft 26 at 92, whereasthel clutch element 91 and the sprocket wheel 29 are loose on saidshaft. Theseclutch elements may be provided with the usual interengagingteeth 93. A spring 94 operates to hold the roller 86 in engagement withthe face of the cam 85. It will be understood that, when the parts arein the position illustrated in Fig.

5, the clutch is closed and power is being transmitted to drive the feedrollers 20 and 21 in the drip-stream ho per; and it will also beunderstood that, w en the high part 85 of the cam engages the roller 86,the clutch will be opened so that the feed rollers 20 and 21 Vwill notbe driven and no material will be fed out of the drip-stream hop- Thecam 85 is intermittently operated by a pawl and ratchet connection (notshown) which pawl and ratchet connection is controlled by the carrier 68(that moves the cartons) and th`e scale beam, in a well known manner.The carrier operates to rotate said cam 85 to close the clutch 90 andthe scale beam operates to rotate said cam to open the clutch.

The feed rollers 20 and 21, on the one hand, and 20 and 21` on theother, are identical and theserollers are smooth and imperforaterollers. 4It has been found in feeding materials of the characteristicsreferred to, that-it is quite necessary to keep these rollers free ofany accumulation of material, and for this reason a scraper isassociated with each of the four rollers to prevent any accumulation ofthe material being fed on the surfaces of these rollers. As shownparticularly on Fig. 4, the Scrapers are shown at 95 and 96, thesescrapers'being mounted on the walls of the hoppers 13 and 14 and areadjustable toward and from the rollers by means of the pin and slotconnections 97 and 98 (Fig. 1). These Scrapers extend across the fulllength of the rollers, and it has been found that they operate veryeffectively when arranged at an angle of about 12. It has also beenyexperienced that in handling brown sugar, for example, it is quitenecessary to keep the feed rollers free from any accumulation of sugar,and it is accordingly necessary to set the Scrapers very close to therollers. At the same time it has been foundl that the rollers will notoperate to freely feed the sugar out of the hoppers until the rollershave become sticky from the passage of the sugar thereover, orotherwise. So far as this particular material is concerned, therefore,it has been found necessary, maximum of efficiency, that the rollersshould be kept clean but sticky.

' As shown' in Fig. 3, the carton 99 is receiving a stream from therollers in the drip-load hopper, and it will be understood that thiscarton has already received its load from the rollers 20 and 21 in therough-load hopper. The mechanism for moving these cartons into themachine under the roughload hopper and from thence under the driploadhopper, sociated with these hoppers, are of a well known and usual typeand need not be further described or illustrated.

While one embodiment of the inventive in order to feed the material withthe I and the scale mechanism as-v idea has been herein described andillustrated in great detail, it is to be understood that the inventionis not limited thereto but that various modifications may be made Withinthe limits of the appended claims. For example, if desired only one feedhopper may be employed as it will sometimes happen that one will answerall of the re quirements. Further, whilethe inventive idea has beenshown as embodied in a hopper or hoppers for a scale, it is to beunderstood that the improvement may be used for feeding materials inother relations.

What is claimed is:

1. In a machine of the character described, the combination of areceptacle supported above the machine and having a substantiallyhorizontal inner surface, means for depositing material on said surfaceat a point removed from one extremity thereof, a hopper at saidextremity of the surface, means for feeding the material along thesurface into said hopper, and a horizontally disposed rotating,cylindrical element for feeding the material out of the hopper into aportable container.

2. In a machine of the character described, the combination of areceptacle supported above the machine and having a substantiallyhorizontal inner surface, a chute for deposit-- ing material on saidsurface at a point removed from one extremity thereof, a hopper -at'saidextremity of the surface, means for thereof, a-hopper at said extremityof ,thev A surface, means for feeding the material -along the surfaceinto said hopper, and a pair of smooth, rotating, imperforate elementsat the bottom of the hopper for feeding material out of thesame into acontainer.

4. In combination, a receptacle having a horizontally extending innersurface, means for depositing material on said surface at a pointremoved from one extremity thereof,

a hopper at said extremity of the surface,

means for feeding the material along the surface into said hopper, apair of horizontally disposed rollers for discharging material from thehopper into containers, and means intermittently rotating said rollersin opposite directions.

5. In combination, means for :feeding material in opposite directionfrom a source ot' supply, :ind a plurality of driven rollers arranged inspaced sets receiving material from said last named feeding means anddischarging the material into a. plurality ofv spaced containers.

6. In combination, means for feeding material from a source of supply, apair of smooth rotating imperforate rollers for discharging materialreceived from said feeding means, and means disposed above said rollersfor agitating the material fed thereto.

7. In combination, means for feeding material in opposite directionsfrom a source "of supply, a plurality or rollers spaced apart in pairseach receiving material fromV said material feeding means, and means forrotating the contiguous surfaces of each pair -of rollers downwardly soas to discharge material into a container..

8. In combination, means 'for feeding ma terlal in opposite directionsfrom a source of supply, a pluralit of rollers spaced apart in sets eachadapte to receive material from said feeding means and discharge thesame into a container, mechanism for driving .the rollers of each set inopposite directions, and means operatively connecting the materialfeeding means with said rollers.

9. In combination, means for feeding material in opposite directionsfrom a source of supply, a lurality of rollers spaced apart 1n pairseaci adapted to receive material from said feeding means and dischargethe same into a container, mechanism for intermittently rotating therollers, and means operatively connecting the material feeding devicewith said rollers.

10. In combination, means for feeding -matcrial in opposite directionsfrom a source of supply, a plurality of smooth imperforate rollersspaced apart in sets each adapted t0 receive material from said materialfeedin means, means disposed above each set o rollers for agitating thematerial fed thereto, and mechanism for rotating the sets of rollers todischarge the material.

11. In a device of the character described, a surface on which thematerial is deposited, a hopper, a driven shaft, means operativelycbnnccted with saidshaft for feeding the material laterally along saidsurface into said hopper, and a smooth rotating imperforate elementoperatively connected With the driven shaft and arranged across the andmeans for rotating their contiguous surfaces downwardly.

13. In an apparatus of the character de` scribed, a device for feedingmaterial in o posite directions, a pair of longitudina y spaced rollersreceiving material from said feeding device, mechanism for driving saidrollers, and means operatively connecting the rollers with said materialfeeding device.

In testimony whereofI have signed'this specification.

WILLIAM L. TAYLOR.

